I think calorie counting is a very useful strategy to work with for a while. You don't need to feel stuck with it forever though. I have done many diets successfully without it simply by eating better quality food.

I have found keeping a food log listing quantities and all ingredients to be the most vital thing.

Re counting calories i think its well worthwhile learning about the general calorie values of different types of foods, not so much the difference between a banana and an apple but between a piece of cheese on toast and a bowl of steamed vegetables.

Once you get a sense of the calorie values of most foods you can stop being so focussed on every calorie. Your food log which is less time consuming will be easy enough to tweak.

That said this time i tailored my daily intake to a rough idea of calories and found it useful to pick the amount of food i would eat based on a total daily calorie intake.

I totally agree with the others who say not to reduce your calories to much. It will indeed cause you to fail in the long run. Losing weight more slowly is going to serve you better on several levels in the long run.

Depending on how much you have to lose, you can start off losing a fair bit but accept it should be more slow after maybe 3 months. The thing is after you've lost about 10% of body fat, your body might rebel so then its a very good idea to pause in your diet and even increase you calorie intake a bit if you have been religiously sticking to a reduced calorie intake.

There is scientific support for this idea in fact that's where i got the idea from. I have factored it into what i'm doing and so far i've been doing it successfully for almost 5 months with no disasters. No binges and no regrets.

I also second the idea of using scales, measuring cups and spoons for everything.

Its also useful to load up your recipes into my fitness pal and use the repeat meal thing too.

What i find tedious on my fitness pal is that many items are not measured in the same way i would do them so i have tended to make approximate guesses with some items. Its not exact but approximate works too. I mean for example, i might prefer to use a tbsp measurement while the item on the program uses a grams measurement and i don't have a kitchen scale that accurately measures grams.

To make your diet successfully in the long term, try to incorporate more whole foods and less processed foods into your life. They are more sustaining and nutritious. You will be less hungry if you eat whole foods.

OK. i did it. Went to the container store and bought a bunch of little containers. I made a whole pot of chili, and calculated all of the calories. Now I have a bunch of frozen chili to eat whenever I want with the calorie count right on the container. I just punch that number into my sweet little app, and it takes care of the rest.

Next meal, lentil soup

Awesome, right?! Other things that freeze very well include burritos, meatballs, stuffed peppers (flash freeze any of these on a cookie sheet before transferring to a freezer bag), and almost anything you can bake in a muffin pan.

I love that I can go into my freezer right now and pull out one of about 15 different meals for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

I always like to cook up and portion my sides into small containers to use throughout the week. Things like boxed potatoes and rice-a-roni I cook up without using the butter...it saves so much on calories and you don't even notice it missing...I'll spray the vermicelli and rice in the rice-a-roni with butter flavored spray to fry it. For days I am having an intense craving for potatoes, I'll have a 200-300 calorie portion of julienne or scalloped potatoes for lunch to satisfy it. You buy enough of those small plastic containers and you can make any calorie portion you want of any food. The portions can be rather small at times, but sometimes you just have to a certain something and a few bites of it are better than none at all!

If you make your scalloped potatoes 50:50 with rutabaga or turnip, you probably wouldn't even notice it, but you'd get a bigger portion for the same number of calories.

Good going.
I love lentil soup!
This a great idea. I have been doing this too. And it really helps. I do it a lot with my oatmeal.

Good idea for others...Unfortunately I don't like either of them

Also, for those times you don't have the chance or desire to cook, Healthy Choice Café Steamers have some excellent options for a fast and calorie friendly lunch or dinner. They have a Beef Merlot that is 220 calories and is very tasty and I love all of their Asian chicken varieties. My husband even enjoys them and he hates diet food.

Aww - how about cauliflower? It's always a good mix with potatoes.

Unfortunately, the only veggie I really like is broccoli and I didn't care for it mixed with the potatoes...I did try it. I have learned to eat my veggies with my lunch and dinner for the stomach filling factor they provide. I just eat them all first, so that I can enjoy the rest of my meal!

I am sorry if this is a rather dumb question but how do you find out how many portions of meats/veges/fruits etc. you should eat for weight loss?

I do the same! I eat the veges first and wait to eat the good stuff last haha

you need to know how many calories are in a portion. If you've got your daily total, you can easily work it out.

I saw your later posts, so I know you may already be starting to see this, but....

What is a pain in the rear on the front end, often ends being really convenient on the back end. Meals all set to just grab and eat, calories counted and everything. (I'm just getting the hang of this myself)

I got two full lunches out of last night's dinner leftovers, and they are in there just waiting to me! Easy rest of MY lunch week.

I always add several diced turnips to my chili. They end with the same texture as the beans and soak up the flavor of the tomato sauce. I figure it adds some veggie boost.